Myers, Heather - Week 2 Blog Posting - 1/11/12
This week, I reviewed the National Education Standards for Teacher (NETS-T) and reflected on which standards I feel comfortable with, and which ones I do not feel as confident. One the National Education Standards I currently feel comfortable with is modeling “digital-age work and learning” (International Society for Technology in Education, 2008). I feel that I model effective use of technology to my students and also use a variety of technological tools to collaborate with peers, teachers, and parents. Because I have a variety of technological resources at my school site, and because technology has always been a passion of mine, I feel I use a variety of resources to support myself as an educator. I am constantly trying to find ways to use my projector, mimio software, and resources such as videos an interactive games to engage my students and enrich my lessons.
This week, I reviewed the National Education Standards for Teacher (NETS-T) and reflected on which standards I feel comfortable with, and which ones I do not feel as confident. One the National Education Standards I currently feel comfortable with is modeling “digital-age work and learning” (International Society for Technology in Education, 2008). I feel that I model effective use of technology to my students and also use a variety of technological tools to collaborate with peers, teachers, and parents. Because I have a variety of technological resources at my school site, and because technology has always been a passion of mine, I feel I use a variety of resources to support myself as an educator. I am constantly trying to find ways to use my projector, mimio software, and resources such as videos an interactive games to engage my students and enrich my lessons.
One National Education Standard that I do not feel as confident with is engaging students in real-world issues and providing authentic problems using technological tools and resources which comes from Standard 1: “Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity” (International Society for Technology in Education, 2008). Another National Education Standard I do not feel as proficient in is “customizing and personalizing learning activities to address students' diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources” which comes from Standard 2: “Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments” (International Society for Technology in Education, 2008).
While I feel confident in using technology to support myself, I do not feel as confident in using a wide range of technology to support my students in authentic instruction or to support all my students' diverse learning styles and needs. In order to strengthen my skills and support myself in these areas, I will first need to set goals throughout the year to encourage my proficiency in these areas. One goal I have in this area is to research and create a new authentic learning activity for my students every month. Because this is an area that is new to me, I will need to conduct research, such as searching educational blogs and research articles, in order to determine possibilities for authentic learning activities that already exist and how to effectively implement them into my classroom environment. These actions will help develop my proficiency with incorporating real-world and authentic learning activities into my classroom. Another goal I have is to collaborate with my grade-level team and research ways we can all help support our students diverse learning needs, especially during our math intervention time. The action I will take in order to support this goal will be discussing with my grade level team the possibility of setting aside time during one Professional Learning Community meeting every month to be spent researching technological resources that can support our students diverse learning needs. I will also set aside 20 minutes every week to researching technological resources such as computer-based tutorials, concept-mapping tools, and assessments that can be incorporated into my classroom environment to support my students and their ability levels.
While incorporating a variety of technological resources and authentic learning activities with my students, it will be important for me to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of each technology both “in action” and “ on action” (Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer, 2009). As Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2009) explain that to monitor and evaluate one's professional growth, reflection needs to be conducted during each process in order to modify behavior and also after in order to reflect on specific behaviors and make appropriate changes in the future. In order to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of technological tools and resources I incorporate into my classroom environment, I will keep a professional development portfolio. Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2009) explain that a professional development portfolio provides a place to collect and reflect on resources over time and also helps you identify areas for future learning. I will use my professional development portfolio as a way to monitor and reflect on my proficiency in meeting NETS-T Standards throughout my profession. I will also use my professional development portfolio as a way to extend what I have learned to my colleagues so that we can all support our students' diverse learning needs and provide authentic learning activities throughout the school year.
References:
Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wads worth, Cengage Learning.
International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). National education standards for teachers (NETS-T). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Libraries/PDFs/NETS_for_Teachers_2008_EN.sflb.ashx
Those are some great goals! Here might be a couple of suggestions that could help you on your way. First, in this week’s reading Cennamo, Ross, Ertmer (2009) suggest the use of computer based tutorials. You mention some math students struggling and wishing to fin programs to help them out and I think that this could be your solution. I do not envy your job of having to teach so many content areas (I just stick to math) and to me I do not know how you keep track of where each student is at in each different content. I would try to implement an “intelligent tutoring system” which can diagnosis students strengths and weaknesses. It can also offer feedback and customized questions depending on how the user responds (Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer, 2009). My second suggestion is to perhaps have your students begin using the computer as a mind tool. Creating concept maps for mathematical process are valuable for students who need to see the big picture. As students are linking ideas they are flushing out the most important elements, organizing them in a meaningful way, and identifying the relationship they have to each other. (Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer, 2009). This could be a good starting goal for your team to talk about in terms of increasing understanding for those struggling students.
ReplyDeleteWhat are you studying in currently in 6th grade math; perhaps I could point you to some programs or resources.
Nick
Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wads worth, Cengage Learning.
Hi Nick,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your suggestions! Have you ever used an "intelligent tutoring system" with your students or know of any free ones?
My school currently uses EnVision math as our textbook and this program offers lots of internet support for students. This is something I have set up for students to use at home, but would be beneficial to use within the classroom setting as well. It provides instruction, practice, and assessment for students as additional support which would be helpful for students who need more practice learning new math concepts.
I have not yet used a concept-map for math, but that is a great suggestion. I love the use of concept-maps and have implemented them sparingly into my classroom only because I have only 5 computers and 1 teacher computer in my classroom for 34 students, and we only have access to the computer lab once a week for 30 minutes. The lack of access to computers has been a challenge this year when wanting to incorporate new technology. I often group students on the computer, but this still only allows 12 - 18 students to work on the computer.
Currently, we are studying ratios, rates, proportions, and percents. I appreciate your help in finding resources in these areas. Thank you so much! What grade do you teach? Are there resources you have used to teach any of these concepts that were beneficial to you and your students?
Hi Heather,
ReplyDeleteI teach fifth grade, so our students are very close in age. I am interested in your curriculum. We use Everyday Mathematics, which is great, and our students do great with this program, but it does not provide internet support for students.
I go to several sites for my students to provide additonal practice in a fun venue. The sites I recommend are: http://www.mathplayground.com and http://www.mangahigh.com. The first website is set up like a colleciton of video games, which kids love obviously, and they are all based on various math skills. The second is similiar, except that it was set up with teachers in mind. You can compose a class profile, and students each get their own identities. The program tracks their progress in each component that you choose.
Maybe you could use these in your classroom. I know you said that computer time is limited, as it is the same in my situation. I have shown them to my students, and have them visit those sites during 'down ' times for them. They have taken these sites and really grabbed onto them. Many parents have told me that their children are playing them almost every night at home. Learning is fun:)
Melissa